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Culture

 

Losing the Marriage Debate:

Selwyn Duke

July 23, 2006:

Selwyn Duke fears that conservatives are losing the marriage debate because they have implicitly conceded the Left's terminology and the idea that such a notion as "homosexual marriage" is anything more than a contradiction in terms. Mr. Duke suggests that proponents of marriage under the traditional definition firmly state that "if it's homosexual, it is not marriage."

 

Economics

 

The Banning of Vertical Agreements in Europe: An Anti-Competitive Policy:

Molinari Economic Institute

July 29, 2006:

The European Commission has wide powers to make sure businesses and governments stick to European Union competition rules. In the area of "vertical agreements", namely, agreements between companies working on various consecutive stages of a good’s production, its first landmark judgment took place in 1964. It is the Grundig-Consten case, which has been used as a precedent in order to prohibit exclusive distribution agreements and "restrictive" contracts. This press release from the Molinari Economic Institute argues against limitations on vertical integration-- claiming that such limitations harm consumers, competition, and economic prosperity.

 

Film Analysis

 

Review of Aaron Russo's Film, "America: From Freedom to Fascism":

Dr. Chuck Baldwin

July 23, 2006:

Dr. Chuck Baldwin gives his thoughts on libertarian producer Aaron Russo's film about the increasing loss of individual freedom in the United States, brought about by ever-expanding government for the last 93 years.

 

Historical Analysis

 

Limiting Terms of Office in the Original American States (1995):

Dr. Murray N. Rothbard

July 23, 2006:

In this second part of his 1995 treatise, Bureaucracy and the Civil Service in the United States, the great libertarian economist Murray N. Rothbard describes the American Founding Fathers' thoughts on the importance of rotating civil servants in office in order to preserve a rotation of elites and prevent any one group of people to become entrenched in power and enter a position to resist individual liberty and usurp control over citizens' lives.

 

Turgot on Progress and Political Economy:

Dr. Edward W. Younkins

July 24, 2006:

Dr. Younkins writes about the life and ideas of A. R. J. Turgot (1727-1781), a free-market economist, historian, advocate and theorist of progress, finance minister for Louis XVI, and a brilliant man of the Enlightenment.

 

A Cool Capitalist and the Centenary of the Air Conditioner:

Dr. Edward Hudgins

July 24, 2006:

Dr. Edward Hudgins celebrates the accomplishments of entrepreneur and inventor Willis Haviland Carrier-- to whose ingenuity we owe the existence of the air conditioner and the wonderful reprieve from heat and discomfort that such a device provides.

 

Politics

 

Do It Now or Do It Later?:

Alan Caruba

July 25, 2006:

We are beginning to see the national debate about what to do in the Middle East shape up into fairly specific sides. Alan Caruba calls them the “Do it now” crowd and the “Do it later” crowd. Mr. Caruba argues that we should support a swift resolution to the terrorism plaguing Israel now by standing behind Israel's decision to get rid of Hezbollah once and for all. The United States should also take decisive action now against the Iranian theocracy that funds Hezbollah.

 

Real Risks and Irrelevant Risks:

Fiona Kobusingye-Boynes

July 26, 2006:

Recent decisions by the USAID and World Health Organization – to support DDT for indoor spraying to control malaria and save lives – have apparently unleashed a fury of anti-insecticide efforts. For example, a Los Angeles Times article discussed a new UC-Berkeley study that attributes slight impairment in 2-year-olds’ mental test scores to “very high exposure” to DDT and claims Africans should be very cautious about using this repellant-insecticide. Fiona Kobusingye-Boynes writes that irresponsible, one-sided “studies” and “news” stories frighten people into not using the most effective weapons in our arsenal – and millions pay the ultimate price. That is unethical and unconscionable. 

 

IRS Threatens Political Speech:

Rep. Ron Paul, M. D.

July 26, 2006:

The Internal Revenue Service has recently undertaken another crackdown on conservative political speech by churches and non-profit organizations. Rep. Ron Paul insists that the Constitution's guarantee of religious freedom must not depend on the whims of IRS bureaucrats. Religious institutions cannot freely preach their beliefs if they must fear that the government will accuse them of "politics." We cannot allow churches to be silenced any more than we can allow political dissent in general to be silenced. Free societies always have strong, independent institutions that are not afraid to challenge and criticize the government.

 

The Travesty of Mercy to Andrea Yates:

G. Stolyarov II

July 31, 2006:

Mr. Stolyarov condemns the recent court decision to declare admitted five-child murderess Andrea Yates "not guilty by reason of insanity." The bizarre argument underlying this verdict is that because Yates allegedly did not have control over her own thoughts, emotions, and actions during the murders, she can be absolved from guilt and punishment for those murders. It is questionable that Yates committed the murders without knowing their full implications and wanton evil. However, even if we accept that premise, it follows that her punishment should only be greater than it would have been otherwise.

 

"It is untrue that some are poor because others are rich. If an order of society in which incomes were equal replaced the capitalist order, everyone would become poorer."

 

~ Ludwig von Mises, Socialism